1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to modular form systems for the pouring of concrete walls and other structures and, more particularly, relates to a clamping device for clamping modular form members with one another. Specifically, the invention relates to a clamping device that can clamp one or more modular form members to a tube that is shaped to complementarily receive the modular form member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Concrete is a well-known building material that has been used for many years. Once particular use of concrete is in the formation of poured concrete walls whereby a hollow form is assembled at a desired location, with concrete then being poured into the form and allowed to harden or cure. As is known in the relevant art, one type of form includes a plurality of panels that are each formed with a retention surface. The panels are affixed to one another such that the retention surfaces together provide an interior surface and an exterior surface that will retain the uncured concrete and that will define the interior and exterior surfaces of the finished concrete wall. Once the poured concrete has cured, the panels are disassembled and removed from the wall and are reused in other applications to build other such walls. While such known modular form systems have been at least moderately successful for their intended purposes, such known systems have not, however, been without limitations.
Such known concrete modular form systems are labor-intensive to assemble as well as to disassemble after the wall has been formed. Moreover, the formation of walls using known modular form systems is expensive in terms of assembly components that remain disposed in the finished wall and thus cannot be reused.
The modular form members typically include a perimeter frame that is formed with a number of slots that receive wedge bolts and/or tie members for assembling the modular form members into a wall form. As is known in the relevant art, wedge bolts typically are roughly triangular plates formed with a longitudinally extending slot. One way in which wedge bolts can be used to assemble adjacent form members to one another is to align the slots of the adjacent perimeter frames and to receive a first wedge bolt in the aligned slots until the wedge bolt is wedged therein. A second wedge bolt is then received in the slot formed in the first wedge bolt to compress the form members against one another. Such assembly practices require the use of numerous such wedge bolts that often must be assembled and disassembled with a hammer, which is extremely time consuming and thus is costly in terms of labor.
Tie members are employed to extend between the form members that will form the interior surface of the wall and the form members that will form the exterior surface of the wall, as well as for other purposes. Such tie members extend directly between opposed pairs of aligned form members and other structures and thus ultimately are disposed within the concrete when the concrete is poured as well as after curing thereof. As such, many such tie members remain disposed internally within a cured concrete wall and thus cannot be reused. Tie members often are attached to the modular form members with additional wedge bolts, which requires substantial increased labor.
After the concrete has cured and the form members are removed from the concrete walls, the ends of the tie members typically protrude outwardly from the wall and must be removed, as by snapping off the protruding portion, which requires further labor. In this regard, it can be seen that the use of tie members extending between the interior and exterior form members requires the attention of a laborer at both of the interior and exterior walls for the application and removal of wedge bolts or other attachment structures.
It is thus desired to provide an improved modular form system that permits adjacent form members to be connected with one another quickly and efficiently with reduced labor required. Additionally, it is desired to provide such an improved system that does not require the usual labor-intensive efforts to install tie members between interior and exterior form members. Still further, it is desired to provide such a system wherein fewer, if any, tie members remain within the concrete wall after curing.
A modular concrete form system employs a clamping device to clamp adjacent modular form members to one another. The clamping device includes an elongated bar and a pair of clamps mounted on the bar, the bar being shaped to complementarily engage the perimeter frames of the modular form members. The jaws of the clamps retain the perimeter frames of the adjacent modular form members against the bar, which clamps the form members to one another and retains them in a flush orientation with one another.
The clamping system additionally includes a pair of clip assemblies mounted on the bar, the clip assemblies each having a slidable tie clip formed with an opening for receiving a portion of a tie therein. The tie is tapered and is nominally of a circular cross section and formed with a plurality of spaced groves at the alternate ends thereof. One end of the tie is receivable in a tie hole formed in the bar as well as in an opening of a tie clip that is aligned with the tie hole, the grooves in the end of the tie being removably lockable in the opening. The opposite end of the tie can be similarly received in another clamping device that is used to clamp modular form members that will define an opposite surface of a concrete wall. The ties are disposed within the wall after the concrete has cured, but the ties are nevertheless removable from the cured concrete inasmuch as the ties are tapered and can be dislodged from the wall with a blow from a hammer delivered to the narrow protruding end of the tie.
One embodiment of the present invention provides a clamping device for retaining a first modular form member in a given orientation with respect to a second modular form member, the first modular form member being formed with a first indentation, the second modular form member being formed with a second indentation, the general nature of which can be stated as including an elongated bar having a first protrusion and a second protrusion, the first protrusion being structured to be engageable with the first indentation, the second protrusion being structured to be engageable with the second indentation, and at least a first clamp having a first jaw and a second jaw, the first jaw being structured to removably engage the first protrusion with the first indentation, the second jaw being structured to removably engage the second protrusion with the second indentation.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a retention system for retaining a first modular form member in a given orientation with respect to a second modular form member, the first modular form member being formed with a first indentation, the second modular form member being formed with a second indentation, the general nature of which can be stated as including a first clamping device, a second clamping device, and an elongated tie, the first clamping device including a first elongated bar having at least a first protrusion, at least a first clamp, and at least a first tie clip, the at least first protrusion being structured to be engageable with the first indentation, the at least first clamp having a jaw, the jaw of the at least first clamp being structured to removably engage the first protrusion with the first indentation, the at least first tie clip being mounted on the first bar and being formed with an opening that is configured to removably receive at least a portion of the tie therein, and the second clamping device including a second elongated bar having at least a second protrusion, at least a second clamp, and at least a second tie clip, the at least second protrusion being structured to be engageable with the second indentation, the at least second clamp having a jaw, the jaw of the at least second clamp being structured to removably engage the second protrusion with the second indentation, the at least second tie clip being mounted on the second bar and being formed with an opening that is configured to removably receive at least a portion of the tie therein.
Still another embodiment of the present invention provides a clamping device for retaining a first modular form member in a given orientation with respect to a second modular form member, the first modular form member being formed with a first form engagement structure, the second modular form member being formed with a second form engagement structure, the general nature of which can be said to includes an elongated bar having a first bar engagement structure and a second bar engagement structure, the first bar engagement structure being structured to be engageable with the first form engagement structure, the second bar engagement structure being structured to be engageable with the second form engagement structure, and at least a first clamp having a first jaw and a second jaw, the first jaw being structured to removably engage the first bar engagement structure with the first form engagement structure, the second jaw being structured to removably engage the second bar engagement structure with the second form engagement structure.
An object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device having a bar and a clamp that can clamp a modular form member to the bar.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a modular form system that employs ties that are tapered and removable from a cured concrete wall.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device that employs sliding tie clips formed with openings that can receive grooved ends of ties therein.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device having an elongated bar that is formed to complementarily engage a perimeter frame of a modular form member.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device that is compatible with and can be used in conjunction with existing modular form systems.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device and a modular form system that are economical to use.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device that improves the efficiency with which a modular form system can be used.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of constructing a wall form that can be used to construct a wall out of a building material such as concrete.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of forming a wall out of a building material.